Location

Check back soon to learn more about where we’ll be working throughout the Popping Rocks 2018 expedition. In the meantime, learn more about the global mid-ocean ridge and look back at the 2016 blog posts. We will leave from Bermuda and it will take about six days to reach the work area, near 14 degrees North on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Image: A bathymetric map of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 10°and 24°N with the Popping Rocks study outlined in black near 14°N (click to enlarge).

About this expedition: Popping rocks revisited

We will be using the research vessel Atlantis, the submersible Alvin, and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sentry, to find and collect samples of “popping rocks”—basaltic seafloor lavas that contain large amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases trapped in high-pressure bubbles that pop when the rocks are brought to the surface. We intend to use these rocks to understanding the composition and origin of gases in the deep earth. This project began with an expedition in 2016 that was cut short due to mechanical problems. You can still see blog posts from the first trip here, and we will continue adding to them during the 2018 expedition.